In which I make some clothes, expound on the virtues of the flat fell seam finish, and proclaim "you CAN sew your own clothes, and even wear them in public".

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Peach (in more ways than one) cotton shirt and skirt

I decided that I will make a shirt next, because I can use another plain shirt (as opposed to yet another one made from a print). I have several from the olden days but they are the kind that you tuck in and that isn't the style these day. Plus my skirts are without waistbands and that look doesn't lend itself to having shirts tucked in either. And when I got the raw silk, I also picked up for next to nothing this peach coloured cotton with 3% Lycra in it and it has not been put away and so is begging to be made into something.The right side has a subtle tone-on-tone stripe and when I was smoothing out the fabric on the table, getting ready to pin the pattern pieces on it, I felt a slight nap to it too. When I washed it with the silk, even though I also put the cotton in the dryer, it came out covered in lint. I had to use the lint brush over every inch of the fabric, on both sides. So I ironed it also, on the one side, after I had taken off the lint.It is quite a substantial cotton and I had just enough of it that I could get a skirt out of it too, although I have decided to line the skirt as the cotton isn't that substantial. I am using tried and true Simplicity patterns, 9877 for the shirt and 9825 for the skirt.I had purchased some pale pinky-beige lining for the silk but when I decided to make a skirt too, I looked through my stash and rediscovered some pale orangey lining that seemed to match wonderfully. So everything is cut out now and it's time to iron on the interfacing and start pinning pieces together.